Amid sanctions, Penn State's seniors salvaged season By Scott Brown Published: Saturday, January 5, 2013, 11:55 p.m. Updated 15 hours ago Coach Bill O‘Brien often can‘t say enough about the role Penn State‘s seniors played in leading the Nittany Lions to an improbable 8-4 record this past season. But two key words offer the simplest explanation of why this senior class will go down as perhaps the most important in Penn State football history: “Charlie Mike.” That is military shorthand for the initials C.M., which stand for “Continue Mission.” Following an inspirational speech from a former Nittany Lion and Navy...

The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association reached agreement on the framework of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement early Sunday morning. After a marathon 16-plus hour negotiating session at the Sofitel Hotel that began Saturday afternoon, the sides announced an agreement in principle shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday. The League did not announce the start date of the season or the number of games each team will play. Those details will be announced soon. The deal, agreed to at approximately 4:40 a.m., was announced jointly by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr...

We won! Though we were widely considered underdogs to the Russian and Canadian teams, the USA squad made it to the finals of the World Junior Championships in Russia and triumphed over Sweden, 3-1, to take the gold medal. Not only was it hockey—hockey still exists—it was a great American triumph, as Florida Panthers draft pick Rocco Grimaldi scored the tying and go-ahead goals after a less-than-promising start to the game. As Desi_Relaford noted in the game thread: "Nothing is more American than winning a gold medal in a sport that barely registers in the US in a tournament most...

It took 16 hours of talks in New York on Saturday, with concessions from both sides. It took 113 days. A total of 625 regular-season games were sacrificed, or over half the 2012-13 season. It took months of bitter sniping, petty politics, false hope and broken hearts.

Young quarterbacks have been the dominant storyline of the 2013 season. Of the 12 NFL playoff teams, six start quarterbacks that are either in their first or second year. The days of needing an established veteran at the quarterback position may be over. Of those five young starting quarterbacks, three are African-American. Rookies Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson will play each other in the premier wildcard game this weekend, with the Washington Redskins hosting the Seattle Seahawks Sunday afternoon. Colin Kaepernick gets a week off, as he helped lead his San Francisco 49ers to a bye. And while our...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Jeremy Pike is a 37-year-old native and resident of Tuscaloosa, Ala. Like all proper fans of the Alabama Crimson Tide, he maintains an abiding hatred of Southeastern Conference rivals Auburn and Tennessee. But there is a third member of his unholy fan trinity, and always has been. "Oh, I hate Notre Dame," Pike said. "I never pull for them." On Nov. 3, Pike and about 50 other Alabama fans were in Louisiana getting ready to watch the Tide play LSU – the most anticipated game of the year. But before the game, they were glued to...

By GIL SPENCER gspencer@delcotimes.com So finally someone in a position of authority in this state is standing up to the late-hitters and pile jumpers that used the Penn State scandal for their own shameful and hypocritical purposes. That someone is Gov. Tom Corbett, who has finally filed a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association and its publicity-whore President Mark Emmert. Better late than never. Last summer, Emmert declared PSU in violation of the NCAA’s regulations without citing a single concrete NCAA rule that the school had broken and imposed crippling sanctions on its storied football program — including a...

IMAGINE a football match pitting 11 clones of Wayne Rooney against 11 more clones of the same spud-faced Manchester United striker. Even avid Wayne-watchers might find it a bit dull. But polo fans may one day be treated to something similar. No one is proposing to clone the stallions who wield the mallets, of course. But the stallions they sit on are another matter. Outstanding polo horses are hard to find and horribly expensive. Each world-class rider may have dozens, the best of which may cost more than $200,000 each. So breeding great mounts is big business. It used to...

January 04, 2013 By Ann Miller for PGATOUR.COM KAPALUA, Hawaii — Golfers in their 20s won nearly half of last year’s PGA TOUR events, but the defending champion in this week’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions is 45-year-old Steve Stricker. He is the only player in his 40s here and has one of the best track records at Kapalua Plantation, with top-10 finishes three of the last four years. Not bad for an old guy, at least by comparison. Of the 37 winners last year, 15 were in their 20s. Stricker turned pro about the time 2012 Rookie of the Year...

The multi-millionaire founder and bassist of heavy metal band Iron Maiden is selling his Essex rock star mansion, which includes its own pub called the Horse and Cart. Steve Harris’ Ł6.75 million ($11 million) house also has an indoor swimming pool surrounded with garish murals of voluptuous women, vikings and Gothic pictures on the walls, which wouldn’t be out of place on one of the band’s horror album covers. Outside there is an old-fashioned red telephone box, floodlit tennis court and a full-sized football pitch with home and away changing rooms. … Long-haired Harris, 56, who released his first solo...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The most widely stated theory about why Notre Dame allegedly has no chance in the BCS championship game against Alabama is the vast superiority of the Crimson Tide's league, the Southeastern Conference. The Crimson Tide was tested at the highest level, the theory went. They went through a meat-grinder schedule no school outside the SEC could comprehend or survive. Certainly not some fancy-pants independent program that sprinkled service academies and low-level ACC opponents between its few big games. You've heard it. I've heard it. Touchdown Jesus has heard it. So you can bet the Fighting Irish...

Oklahoma football: Sooners' David King a product of a promise kept between two mothers On Friday, David King will lead the Sooner defense one last time when OU faces Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. King got to this point thanks to the love of his two mothers: the one who kept him off the streets and the other who kept a promise. By Stephanie Kuzydym | Published: January 2, 2013 As David King ran onto Owen Field one last time, Stacy McVaney sat on the bleachers, surrounded by players' parents, and wept. Stacy is a crier. Balled up in...

According to several reports, Cleveland's CEO Joe Banner is in Arizona and intends to interview Kelly, who is preparing the Ducks to play in Thursday's Fiesta Bowl. Kelly has been courted by NFL teams in the past and came close to taking Tampa Bay's job last year. Kelly has deflected questions about a possible jump to the pros, saying he's focused on finishing his fourth season at Oregon. Kelly's fast-paced offensive system is intriguing to the Browns, who fired Pat Shurmur earlier this week. New England coach Bill Belichick consulted Kelly this summer and has incorporated aspects of Oregon's up-tempo...

MALIBU (CBSLA.com) Â— The son of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been found dead in Malibu. SheriffÂ’s Homicide Detectives were sent to an apartment in the 22600 block of Pacific Coast Highway around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday on a welfare check, authorities said. KNX 1070â€˛s Pete Demetriou reports when deputies arrived, they found the body of 32-year-old Scott Sterling inside the unit. Â“SheriffÂ’s Homicide and Los Angeles County CoronerÂ’s personnel at this time believe that Sterling died of an apparent drug overdose,Â” Deputy Guillermina SaldaĂ±a said. An autopsy is pending. No additional details were released. In 1999, Sterling was...

Fans argue all the time that a referee missed a call, but those arguments are usually subjective. The holding call that killed the drive might have been ticky-tack, but it wasn't black and white that it was a missed call. The pass interference that set up the game-winning touchdown wasn't just a phantom call - it might have been a tough call but it was debatable. You very rarely see a football official flat out miss a call. A fourth-quarter call in the Outback Bowl was black and white. There really can be no debate. It was a blown call...

By the margin of Dario Simion being 6-foot-2 instead 5-foot-10 like the stereotypical Swiss forward of yore, Switzerland is in the world junior championship medal round. ~snip~ Simion was trying to screen the goaltender when defenceman Samuel Guerra stepped into a slapshot. Since the deflection was unintended, it counted...

Chicago Bears receiver Devin Hester was so distraught Monday after hearing Lovie Smith was fired that he actually talked about retiring. The 30-year-old Hester has one year left on his contract. "I don't even know if I want to play again," Hester said. "That's been something on my mind for two years. "It's not (much fun for me anymore). I've got my workers comp papers in my pocket. We'll see how I feel. I'm going to go home and talk to my wife and talk to my family and see where we go from there. I got two beautiful kids,...

The Dallas Cowboys needed quarterback Tony Romo to come up big against the Washington Redskins on Sunday night. Instead, he threw three interceptions, including a crucial fourth-quarter pick that contributed to the Cowboys' season-ending loss. After the latest down moment in Romo's inconsistent career, I think it's time for Dallas to move on; it's time for the Cowboys to cut ties with Romo. Romo's one of those guys who seems to do really well when it doesn't count, but when it counts, he doesn't get the job done. It's not because he's not smart; it's not because he's not athletic;...